The Environmental Metabolomics and Exposomics Research Group at Emory
EMERGE GROUP
Welcome To EMERGE !






We are a group of exposure scientists and molecular epidemiologists interested in measuring multi-dimensional exposures and investigating the molecular mechanisms accounting for the complex health responses to environmental mixtures. To study the molecular mechanisms and disease etiology associated with ubiquitous environmental exposures, such as air pollution and persistent organic pollutants, we have focused on incorporating high throughput omics approaches, especially the high-resolution metabolomics. In seven independent panel and cross-sectional cohort studies, we successfully demonstrated the applicability of using untargeted and semi-targeted high-resolution metabolomics as a central platform linking exposure to internal dose and biological response, where we identified specific metabolites and metabolic pathways related to traffic pollution and persistent organic pollutant exposures. These results hold great promise for identifying key connections between environmental exposures and corresponding adverse health effects. More recently, we have started integrating multi-omics data to examine the interplay between various aspects of an individual’s endogenous environment, including epigenome, metabolome, and microbiome, and exogenous environmental exposures. This holistic multi-omics approach will provide a comprehensive view of the molecular connections between environmental exposures and health effects, with potential long-term contributions in the advancement of environmental health sciences research.
Check out the “Research” and “Publication” pages to learn more about the ongoing research projects and recent publications from the Environmental Metabolomics Research Group at the Emory. We are actively recruiting motivated individuals to join our team and please click “Opportunity” to learn more about the potential research and training positions. For research collaboration and other inquiry, please use the “Contact Us” form or contact Dr. Donghai Liang directly.
Latest News
- 02/28/2023→ Check out our recent publications! to Kaitlin Taibl, Youran Tan, Natalie Shen, Dr. Jeremy Sarnat, and Dr. Donghai Liang for leading and participanting in these amazing projects! Learn more…
- 02/15/2023→ Congratulations to Sabrina Chow for receiving the admission offer from our highly competitive Emory EHS PhD Program! Learn more…
- 01/23/2023→ Congratulations to all EMERGE team members for a productive and amazing year with 33 publications, 30+ abstracts and presentations, and 12 honors and awards! Learn more…
- 01/18/2023→ Congratulations to Haoran Chen for receiving the admission offer from the highly competitive Duke-NUS Medical School Program! Learn more…
- 12/02/2022→ Congratulations to Sabrina Chow being chosen as the RSPH’s Outstanding APE Award finalists 2023! Learn more…
- 11/29/2022→ Congratulations to Zhenjiang Li for being selected to receive the 2022 Air and Waste Management Association’s (A&WMA) scholarship! Learn more…
- 10/11/2022→Huge congratulations to Zhenjiang Li who won the Outstanding Trainee Abstract Award at the US DOHaD Annual Meeting. Congratulations to Dr. Donghai Liang and Kaitlin Taibl who won the Outstanding ECHO Abstract at the US DOHaD Annual Meeting. Learn more…
- 09/18/2022→Huge congratulations to Kaitlin Taibl who received an abstract award from the ISEE Student New Researcher Network. Also big congratulations to Susan Hoffman who received an amazing award from ISEE– the prestigious travel award from the Wartenberg Memorial Fund! Learn more…
- 09/12/2022-09/28/2022→We have four publications this month in Environment International, Fertility and Sterility and Environmental Research. Congratulations to Dr Donghai Liang, Dr Robert Hood, Youran Tan and our alumni Rachel Tchen. Learn more…
- 08/13/2022→Check out a new publication of “Postnatal exposure to ambient air pollutants is associated with the composition of the infant gut microbiota at 6-months of age” by Dr.Donghai Liang and Dr.Jeremy A Sarnat. Learn more…
- 05/27/2022→Great news! Check out our lastest publication on Bioinformatics. Congrats to our group member Zhenjiang Li, Ziyin Tang, Dr. Donghai Liang and our alumni Xiaoyue Zhang. Learn more…
- 04/27/2022→Big congrats to Zhenjing Li for his new publication in Environmental Science & Technology. Also congrats to Drs.Jeremy A. Sarnat, Robert Hood, Che Jung Chang, Donghai Liang. Learn more…
- 02/10/2022→Exciting news!! Check out our new publication in Environmental Epidemiology. Big congratulations to Dr.Robert Hood, Dr.Donghai Liang and Ziyin Tang. Learn more…
- 01/25/2022→Thrilled to see our latest publication in Environmental Science & Technology. Big congratulations to Ziyin Tang, Zhenjiang Li and Dr.Donghai Liang. Learn more…